On a training field in the village, stood Wendy and Lapis, each standing at some distance from the other and with a small smile of excitement, as they were soon to have a match after so long.
At the edge of the field, next to a set of trees, stood the other members of Team Natsu, Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi and most of the Hidden Leaf 11, with the exception of a certain emo ninja.
"By the way, why did you send the two of them to fight that time?" asked Charle, as he was told about them fighting soon after arriving at the village.
"It was more like a little test to see their skills. If they were going to become Leaf ninja, I needed to know what they were capable of." said Tsunade.
"Ah. Like a test." said Lucy understanding what the Hokage was saying.
"Exactly." started Kakashi. "And I must admit I was impressed with the amount of strength and power they had. I wonder how much they have improved since then." said Kakashi.
"Jo, why can't I fight?" asked Natsu.
"Because this is about the two of them, not you." said Happy.
"You could use this to learn a little. Although knowing you, that's expecting a lot." said Gray with a small smile.
"What did you say?" asked Natsu ready for a fight.
"Natsu, don't even think about fighting before Wendy's fight." said Erza giving the fire dragon slayer a death glare.
"Y-Yes, ma'am." said Natsu trembling with fear.
"I'm surprised you came, Hinata." said Naruto.
"Yes. Since I helped Lapis get stronger, I wanted to be here to cheer her up." said Hinata.
"Same goes for me with Wendy." said Naruto scratching the top of his head.
"Hey, who do you bet on?" asked Kiba.
"You shouldn't bet when it's a match between friends." said Shino.
"Can you bet on a draw?" asked Sai with a smile.
"You don't join." said Neji.
"Besides, we've fought them, and we know how strong they are. So we don't know which of the two could win." said Tenten.
"Victory won't only be determined by who is stronger but also who is more cunning and smart." said Shikamaru.
"On that I must agree with you."
The next instant, Sasuke landed among the other teens, startling the Fairy Tail mages.
"Who's that?" asked Happy.
"It's Sasuke, a friend of ours who was away from the village for a long time." said Sakura.
"I see you came too, Sasuke." said Naruto happy to see his friend.
"I was curious to see how they fought each other. I hope they do better than when I fought them." said Sasuke crossing his arms.
"Fight them?" asked Gray.
"You see, when Sasuke arrived he suddenly attacked the girls. From what I was told, he fought like he was really going to kill them." said Naruto.
"What?! How could you do something like that?" asked Charle scowling at the Sharingan ninja.
"Life won't always be easy. There will be times when difficult decisions must be made." began Sasuke before turning his gaze to the exceed. "If you can't handle that, then stay home forever."
Charle began to tremble in fear at the look in the right eye of the Sharingan ninja, as if looking into a bottomless black void.
"I hate to admit it, but he's right. There will be a time when we face a powerful opponent, and we have to get really serious." said Erza agreeing with the emo ninja.
"He. If that opponent shows up, I'll kick his ass." said Natsu with a toothy grin and a fist on fire.
"Aye, sir." said Happy encouraging his human friend.
"I didn't know you had a brother, Naruto." said Sasuke.
"What are you saying? I look nothing like this guy!" said Naruto and Natsu in unison as they pointed at each other.
"Well you're proving otherwise." said Lucy chuckling.
Meanwhile, Wendy and Lapis were eager to fight.
"Just know that I won't use my enhancement spells. I want to fight you with my own strength." said Wendy with an excited smile.
"Fine by me, but that won't do you any good. I've gotten stronger than the last time we fought." said Lapis with an excited smile.
"All right, both of you! Get ready!" began Tsunade raising her arm as the young dragon slayers got ready. "Begin!" exclaimed Tsunade quickly lowering her arm, signaling the start of the fight.
In the next instant, Lapis covered all her fingers with water.
"Water Dragon's Bullets!" shouted Lapis shooting the water from her fingers like bullets.
Wendy began shooting air from the soles of her feet to give her enough speed to dodge the shots.
Needless to say, the other Fairy Tail mages were a bit confused.
"Huh? What's Wendy doing?" asked Natsu.
"You see, we ninjas move swiftly using chakra. In the first few missions, they couldn't keep up with us, so we carried them on us, but Wendy didn't want to be a burden, so we were training to develop a way for her to go faster." said Naruto.
"A very good idea indeed." said Erza.
"Now that I look at it, it's similar to what Natsu does when he propels himself. Only she uses air instead of fire." said Happy.
"She was probably inspired by him when she came up with that." said Lucy.
"Normally I wouldn't support Wendy being inspired by him, but I admit it's impressive." said Charle crossing her arms.
Seeing that her bullets wouldn't reach her, Lapis quickly lunged towards the sky dragon slayer as she wrapped her leg with water.
"Water Dragon's Tail!" shouted Lapis directing her leg towards her opponent.
Fortunately, Wendy noticed the attack and put up her arms as a shield to try to protect herself from the attack, but despite being able to block most of the damage, the blow did send her backwards a bit.
Soon after, Wendy began to inhale air rapidly.
"Sky Dragon's Roar!" shouted Wendy shooting a huge tornado out of her mouth.
"Water Dragon's Roar!" shouted Lapis shooting a torrent of water from her mouth in time for her attack to collide with Wendy's.
Both attacks remained neutral for a few seconds before they were destroyed in an explosion of wind and water, something that forced onlookers to shield their faces, including the two young dragon slayers.
However, by the time Lapis uncovered her face, she saw Wendy jump high in the air and inhale air.
"Sky Dragon's Bombs!" shouted Wendy shooting small spheres of air from her mouth.
Although she didn't know what that attack was about, she did know that it was something dangerous, so she jumped to the side to dodge a sphere that, as soon as it hit the ground, there was a small, powerful blast of wind that almost pushed her too far.
Seeing what it was, Lapis began to move from one side to the other to avoid both the spheres and the explosions they caused.
That came as quite a surprise to the Fairy Tail mages.
"What kind of attack is that?" asked Gray.
"That was my idea. I suggested that, instead of shooting all the air in one attack, she split it into several small pieces." said Naruto.
"I understand. And all that air compressed into one of those spheres caused an explosion." said Erza understanding her friend's new move.
"Jo, dude. I have to learn how to do something like that." said Natsu with a smile of excitement.
"You already have enough similar and much more destructive attacks than that." commented Happy.
Lapis had just dodged another blast of air, but was unable to dodge a sphere that hit the ground in front of her and the resulting blast ended up sending her into another blast of wind that pushed her into another blast that sent her to the side, but she was able to land on her feet.
Directing her gaze upwards, she saw that Wendy was falling downwards and had finished her bombardment, so she decided to take advantage of that to attack.
"Water Dragon's Wave!" shouted Lapis summoning a wave that was heading towards the sky dragon slayer.
Even though she was in mid-air, Wendy was able to somersault.
"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" shouted Wendy finishing the somersault and shooting a pair of tornadoes from her arms that managed to neutralize the wave.
However, that was only a distraction, as Lapis emerged from the wreckage of her wave and when she reached Wendy, before she could react, she kicked her, sending her back to the ground, though she managed to land on her feet, but hard.
Once Lapis landed she lunged at Wendy again and the two began to have a hand-to-hand fight.
Unfortunately for Wendy, she wasn't very used to that way of fighting, so she ended up taking more hits than she was able to give Lapis.
After a while of fighting, Lapis jumped backwards to get some distance before taking a fighting stance in which she had her right hand pulled back.
Soon after, water began to envelop the right hand.
"Water Dragon's Palm!" shouted Lapis thrusting her hand forward, causing the water enveloping her to shoot out like a cannonball and, in mid-trip, the water took the shape of a dragon head that let out a roar as it approached its target, which was so surprised that she didn't give her time to react, so she ended up being hit by the attack and sent backwards.
"What was that?" asked Lucy surprised by the water dragon slayer's movement.
"Miss Hinata, you had something to do with that, didn't you?" asked Neji who could see a resemblance in Lapis' fighting stance.
"M-maybe she was a little inspired by our fighting style because of the training." said Hinata nervously at the hard look on her cousin's face.
"Well, it's not the Hyuga style, so I'll let it go." said Neji, much to the relief of the white-eyed girl.
"Don't mind him, Hinata. That shows you were a good teacher." said Naruto with a smile.
"T-Thank you." said Hinata slightly blushing at the compliment from her crush.
After seeing her attack hit her opponent, Lapis quickly lunged towards Wendy to hit her again, but then, she braced herself on the ground with her hands and started spinning around with her feet up.
"Sky Dragon's Claw!" shouted Wendy generating from her legs strong winds that ended up hitting the water dragon slayer, sending her into the air, something Wendy took advantage of to propel herself with her arms towards her and then hit her with her leg wrapped in air, sending her back to the ground.
The two stood facing each other as she gasped from exhaustion and damage received during the fight.
"I think... it's time to end this, don't you think?" asked Wendy with a small smile.
"Okay. I thought so too." said Lapis wiping her face a bit with her knuckles and with a small smile.
Both dragon slayers rushed at each other with their fists pulled back as Wendy's fist was wrapped in air and Lapis' fist was wrapped in water.
"Sky Dragon's... / Water Dragon's…" the two began in unison as they moved closer and closer together. "Crushing Fang! / Fang!" the two shouted in unison as they threw their fists forward, managing to impact each other's cheek at the same time.
The resulting force caused an explosion of dust to happen, covering them in dust completely.
"What happened? Who won?" asked Natsu.
"Let me take care of it." said Naruto before clapping his hands together while gesturing with his hands as he took a deep breath. "Wind Style: Dragon Breath!" shouted Naruto giving a loud puff that completely swept away the smoke screen.
Needless to say, the mages were open-mouthed.
"That attack… It looked like Wendy's roar." said Lucy.
"Hehe. Let's just say she wasn't the only one who learned things in training." said Naruto winking at them.
That's when all the spectators could see what was going on in the field and were slightly shocked when they saw Wendy and Lapis unconscious on the ground.
"Looks like it's a draw again." said Kakashi.
"Wendy!" exclaimed Charle with concern before quickly flying to her side. "Are you okay? Talk to me!"
"Don't worry." began Sakura approaching the exceed. "I'll take care of her." said Sakura before kneeling down and using her medical jutsu to heal her.
"And I'll take care of Lapis." said Hinata kneeling down next to Lapis and use her medical jutsu on her.
Soon after, the young dragon slayers let out light moans as they opened their eyes.
"Charle?" asked Wendy.
"Easy. Sakura is healing you." said Charle.
"Hinata?" asked Lapis.
"Just get some rest. You'll be better soon." said Hinata.
"I think I speak for everyone when I say you've been awesome, Wendy. You've gotten stronger than before." said Erza approaching her with the other Fairy Tail mages.
"Aye, sir." said Happy.
"Hihi. Thanks, guys." said Wendy.
"Hey, when you get a chance, you have to show me those cool moves you did." said Natsu.
"You were awesome too, Lapis. You're really strong." said Lucy.
"Yeah, anyone would say you're from Fairy Tail." said Gray.
"T-Thanks." said Lapis slightly blushing from the compliments.
"Aw, cheers. They ended up tied." said Kiba complaining about the outcome of the fight.
"In my opinion, it's a good result." said Ino.
"She's right. It shows that they are equally strong. I could feel throughout the fight the burning flame of their youth!" exclaimed Rock Lee with fire in his eyes.
"Well, was it enough for you?" asked Shikamaru to Sasuke.
"Hmm." expressed Sasuke "They're strong, but we'll see if they're strong enough when the demons show up." said Sasuke.
"Ugh. Trying to figure you out is a drag." said Shikamaru scratching his head.
By then, Wendy and Lapis felt healed enough to be able to get up.
"That was a good fight, Lapis. I enjoyed fighting you. I hope we do it again." said Wendy extending her hand towards the water dragon slayer.
Lapis looked at Wendy's outstretched hand before looking back at her and giving her a smile.
"Sure. I'd like that too." said Lapis before shaking her hand with hers.
Suddenly, everyone present stopped as soon as they sensed a strange presence and turned their gaze upwards, only to be left wide-eyed as they saw a black sphere form in the air before it opened to reveal a being with completely black skin, horns, a tail, and bat-like wings.
The members of Team 7, including the teacher, were stunned as they were able to recognize this being that had just arrived.
"Sasuke, wouldn't that be...?" began Naruto.
"Yes." began Sasuke before drawing his katana. "It's Black Zetsu."
"What is that thing?" asked Lucy in shock at the strange creature.
"Don't let your guard down for a moment!" said Kakashi with his hand on his face band, preparing to pull out his Sharingan if necessary.
The ninjas and mages got into position in case the newcomer was going to attack, but all he did was look down and as soon as his gaze focused on a certain duo, a huge toothy grin formed on his face.
"Well, well, well. Long time no see, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha." said Dokuzetsu making the two aforementioned ninjas more tense. "Relax, I'm not here to fight. I just come to convey a message."
"A message?" asked Sakura.
"What do you want?" asked Tsunade.
"Surely you will find my new appearance surprising. That's because I cut ties with Kaguya and joined the dark guild, Death Hand." said Dokuzetsu.
"What? Is that thing with the demons?" asked Gray.
"In that case, I'm going to..." started Natsu before Erza stopped him by putting her arm in front of him.
"Don't even think about doing anything." said Erza in a very serious tone, as this wasn't the time to fight.
"We plan to form a utopia where our greatest desires are fulfilled, but in this world, there is only one thing that can stand in our way." began Dokuzetsu before pointing at the jinchuriki and the surviving Uchiha. "You two, descendants of the sons of Hagoromo Otsutsuki."
"Where are you going with this?" asked Naruto wanting to get to the point.
"As soon as my master heard about you two, he decided that our next move would be to take care of you and your entire village." stated Dokuzetsu to the horror of everyone present.
"Why are you telling us this?" asked Sasuke.
"Simple, my master finds it amusing to watch you try to prepare for our arrival as soon as the sun rises. I hope you'll be ready by then, it wouldn't be fun if you weren't." said Dokuzetsu before bursting into evil laughter as a black cloak wrapped around him in a black sphere before shrinking and disappearing.
As soon as the black demon left, a deadly silence filled the area, everyone still thinking about what he had just said.
"What the hell was that?" asked Charle.
"That was Black Zetsu, an old enemy of ours." said Kakashi.
"But he looked very different from the last time we saw him. He looked more like a demon than human." said Sakura.
"It probably must have been something from the demons of our world. The ones we fought against had technology to turn humans into demons." said Erza remembering when she faced the Sabertooth mage who switched to the demon side and then went back to her previous guild.
"If he's on the demon side, then things have gotten more serious than before." said Sasuke.
"And on top of that he told us that they will attack at dawn!" said Naruto.
"In that case, we can't waste another second." began Tsunade before turning in front of the crowd of ninja. "I want you to initiate the evacuation protocol. I don't want a single civilian in the village before midnight. Shikamaru, inform the other villages to send reinforcements, we'll need all the help available if we're going to take on the demons. Don't waste any time!"
"Yes!" shouted the ninja in unison before walking off, leaving only Team 7, the Hokage and the Fairy Tail mages.
At that moment, a thought crossed Wendy's mind.
"Wait, if that was Black Zetsu, then..." began Wendy before running off.
"Where are you going, Wendy?" asked Lapis.
"I have to go see her! I'll be back soon!" exclaimed Wendy before running out of sight.
"Her? Who does she mean?" asked Happy.
"To Black Zetsu's 'mother'." said Naruto surprising the Fairy Tail mages.